Where’s the Discussion About Natural Immunity?
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended Americans not travel for Christmas. Now, the agency has made a similar recommendation for this year.
In 2020, the CDC recommended, “The best thing for Americans to do in the upcoming holiday season is to stay at home and not travel.”
The CDC has now updated its guidance for safely celebrating this year’s holiday season, advising, “CDC still recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated.”
According to the CDC’s data, two thirds of the population age 12 and older has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
For the one third of Americans who aren’t fully vaccinated, many may ask the glaring follow up question to the CDC’s new holiday guidance.
What about those who aren’t fully vaccinated, but have already contracted and recovered from COVID-19?
Does the CDC believe it’s safe for them to travel?
The Daily Citizen reached out to the CDC and asked that exact question but did not receive a response.
On September 9, Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN and was interviewed by the network’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Dr. Gupta began by saying, “There was a study that came out of Israel about natural immunity, and basically the headline was that natural immunity provides a lot of protection, even better than the vaccines alone.”
“I get calls all the time. People say, ‘I’ve already had COVID, I’m protected.’ … Should they also get the vaccine?” Dr. Gupta queried.
Dr. Fauci’s responded, “You know, that’s a really good point Sanjay. I don’t have a really firm answer for you on that. That’s something that we’re going to have to discuss.”
“I think that is something that we need to sit down and discuss seriously, because you very appropriately pointed out, it is an issue. And there could be an argument for saying what you’ve said.”
So, where is that discussion?
Where’s the serious conversation about natural immunity that Dr. Fauci repeatedly said should take place?
That interview aired on CNN nearly one and a half months ago. Since then, have our scientific experts in government sat down to “seriously” discuss natural immunity?
As Dr. Gupta pointed out, numerous studies have come out about the efficacy of natural immunity. The Israeli study he cites found that “natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2” than the Pfizer vaccine.
And a study out of the United Kingdom found that “there was no evidence that the reduction in risk of infection from two vaccine doses … differed from that of previous natural infection.”
For many Americans, asking about natural immunity isn’t a purely academic exercise.
The discussion is immensely personal and could have a large impact on relationships and families.
Thanksgiving and Christmas offer Americans the chance to remember the important things in life: faith, family and friendship. Often, those who may rarely see family members take time out of their busy schedules to visit loved ones during the holidays.
After reading the CDC’s guidance, those Americans who would like to visit relatives this holiday season and are naturally immune to COVID-19 but haven’t been fully vaccinated, are left in limbo wondering what do to.
Hopefully the CDC will soon provide that much needed clarity.
Photo from Shutterstock.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachary Mettler is a writer/analyst for the Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family. In his role, he writes about current political issues, U.S. history, political philosophy, and culture. Mettler earned his Bachelor’s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. In addition to the Daily Citizen, his written pieces have appeared in the Daily Wire, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Townhall, the Daily Signal, the Christian Post, Charisma News and other outlets.